


Dinner for Two

by Daegaer



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Dinner, Food, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5680459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Goku brings Sanzo his dinner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dinner for Two

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Saiyuki New Year Exchange 2016, for Kirathaune.

It was a beautiful evening, Goku thought. The earlier rain had cleared and the air was fresh and scented with the smell of night-flowering jasmine. The oppressive heat would return the next day, he was sure, but just then the grounds of the monastery were cool and inviting to walk in. He loped down to the kitchen storerooms, and filled a bag with pears. They were just ripe, and would be crisp and juicy to bite into, he thought, his mouth watering. Into the kitchens he crept; no one should have been around, but he'd been caught too many times as a child to be anything but wary. _Empty_ , he thought, and, _Good!_

It was the work of just a few moments to scurry quickly around, noting that the food cooked for the travellers staying in the guesthouse that night was ready and waiting, in far greater quantities than one family could possibly eat. Goku grinned; Sanzo said the kitchen-monks dealt with the monastery's rules on _their_ food by going overboard on food for other people. He scooped up warm rice from the huge pot into one of the waiting serving bowls and investigated the other pots hanging over the fire. Moving quickly, he filled jars with the chili and ginger and the hot curried sauces he found, wishing the cooks had unbent enough to add at least a _bit_ of chicken. It all went into a basket, along with a couple of pairs of chopsticks, and then he ran for the fridge. Inside were the things he really couldn't do without, and that he would be in most trouble for removing. He slid a couple of bottles of cold beer into the bag with the pears, slung it over his shoulder, picked up the basket, and was out the door, heading for freedom.

The grass was cool and damp under his feet; he bent down and pulled off his shoes, tying them at his belt. It felt wonderful to walk on the rain-soaked earth barefoot. He grinned at the thought of what Gojyo would say, how he'd call him a monkey. It had long since lost its sting. Sanzo would just shrug. What did _he_ care about things like that? And if Sanzo didn't care, then Goku didn't either. 

He paused, concentrating on his task. When he'd asked the passing novice master where Sanzo had gone, he'd been told that Sanzo had gone out to meditate in the rain. _That_ sort of answer only meant that the novices were listening, and no one wanted to tell the truth. Goku knew quite well what must have happened, as he had seen it often enough – a whole house full of monks hiding from the bad weather, all getting more and more fractious and more and more demanding of Sanzo's time and energy until finally – 

He was just sorry he'd missed the explosion. Right now the most likely place for Sanzo's _meditation_ was the monastery boathouse. It was quiet, out of earshot of the main house and no one sensible would have gone down there in the rain. It was perfect for someone who didn't want to be disturbed. The problem of course, was that Sanzo wouldn't want to be disturbed. Goku sniffed the enticing aromas rising up from the basket. He was prepared to take the chance.

He found Sanzo sitting on the hull of a half-rotted rowing boat, one leg drawn up, staring silently out the open doors at the swollen river. The sun caught his hair, making it shine more brightly, and making the smoke spiralling up from his cigarette seem cheerful. Goku crept quietly in from the landward door, not wanting to disturb him in case he really had been meditating.

"Just when I finally thought I'd get some peace," Sanzo said, still looking at the river and sounding calm enough for him. Mildly irritable for most people, Goku thought, but anything else would have been weird and wrong. "What is it, Goku?"

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Who else would come looking for me unless the monastery was being attacked? And I don't hear a gang of hysterical old farts screeching for me to save them."

"I'm sure all the monks would come looking for you just because they'd want to hang out," Goku said loyally. "They'd probably screech at you, though. _Master Sanzo, it's not befitting your dignity to sit on a boat!_ Can _I_ sit there too?"

"It's a big enough boat," Sanzo said indistinctly, taking a deep draw on his cigarette. He finally turned to look at Goku. "What did you want, anyway?"

Goku held up the basket and the bag. "I brought you your dinner, so you don't have to go back to the house." He paused. "I mean, unless you want to go back to teach them or to read the scriptures, or something –"

" _Master Sanzo, no one here eats after the mid-morning meal!_ Must _you set such a worldly example for the novices?_ " Sanzo said in what Goku considered an excellent impersonation of a hysterical old fart. He snorted in dry amusement. "What have you got?"

"Rice, and two different sauces, and pears, and beer," Goku said in a rush. He started pulling everything from the basket, balancing the bowls and jars carefully on the curved hull between them.

"No eating bowls?" Sanzo said. "Moron." 

The whack of his fan was the lightest flick against Goku's head, as if he felt he _should_ make the point but his heart really wasn't in it. Goku fought against the grin, in case it brought him a proper smack with the fan for being a smartarse.

"I thought we could share the big bowl," he said. "Just pour the sauces on it, maybe?"

"Oh, you did, did you?" Sanzo scoffed, then peaceably took up chopsticks and dived in.

The food was gone in a very short time, Goku doing his best to allow Sanzo an equal amount, but failing as usual. They sat in contented silence, eating the pears and drinking beer as the sun went down, the small biting insects kept at bay by the cloud of smoke from Sanzo's cigarettes.

"You're occasionally useful," Sanzo said, and flung his empty bottle out into the river. They watched it bob away downstream.

"You should have written a message and put it inside," Goku said. "Maybe a wish you want to come true."

"I don't need to write it down for that," Sanzo said. He sighed and stood, dusting himself off, and letting his robes settle back around himself. "I'll be leaving the monastery for a while," he said. "Probably for quite a while. I could tell you to come with me –" He scowled at Goku. "You're not a damn kid any more, Goku. I'm asking you instead."

Goku let the grin that always bubbled within him when he was with Sanzo come to the surface. "You're asking me to go with you? You _want_ me to go with you?"

Sanzo's scowl deepened. It was medium-irritated for most people, completely-embarrassed for Sanzo. If you knew him. "You're occasionally useful," he said. 

"When do we go? _Where_ do we go? Are we going west again? What about Gojyo and Hakkai?"

The scowl was down to Sanzo's normal expression, like he was relieved. "I'll tell you later. Right now, we're going back to the house so that I can tell everyone else that I'm leaving. That should be good for some screeching." He gave his short laugh. "First thing we do outside the monastery is buy lunch." Goku blinked. Sanzo was actually smiling. "I could murder some twice-cooked pork."

Goku giggled and promised himself that when they ate that promised lunch he'd let Sanzo have _all_ the pork. Well, most of it. Probably.


End file.
